Sunday August 30, 2009, At Home

Today I'm on the couch after being "kicked off the island" of the Scott and BR Cycling Challenge.  It's been a rather eventful week, and I need a little break from training with the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge riders.  Today is the Torry Pines Time Trail.  I went for a hard ride yesterday and I don't feel up to a big effort today. I slept in for the first Sunday in months!



Being involved with CAF and QMDC has given me the opportunity to meet some incredible people.  I’ve gone on beautiful training rides and have improved my cycling skills by riding with great ride leaders.  I’ve been humbled by watching the way Scout Bassett handles herself at CAF events and the way David Lee cranks his hand-cycle on our training rides.  I’ve grown by persevering in my fundraising; writing letters to family and friends and being grateful to those who respond.   I’m happy to give back for the great opportunity given to me in the Scott and BR Cycling Challenge.  You can still contribute to this wonderful cause through my donations link on this page.


Thursday, Brian Brillo, Rob Millum and I helped Efrain Arvizu with his fund raising event at a Boxing event he helped to promote at Four Points Sheraton.  It was a lot of fun and I think we were successful in raising awareness for CAF in a community of boxing fans who never heard of the Challenged Athletes Foundation before.  Efrain raised a few bucks and we all got to know each other a little better. 

This week starts a new adventure for me.  I quit my job at DefenseWeb as a software engineer and my last day was Friday.  I'm going to get my Personal Trainer certifcation and try to get a business started to provide coaching and training to the over 40 crowd which I am a proud member.  I'll keep you posted on my progress through this blog.  All my best to the remaining contest riders and the rest of the great people I've met who are raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation through the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge.  I'll be back next week.

Sunday August 23, 2009 Training Ride

Today the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge training ride took us up the coast and along the San Luis Rey Bike Trail to Bonsall and east to the Circle R twist. I rode with Adam and Joy from the Scott & BR Cycling Challenge in Group 2. We had a great ride. The weather was mild and there wasn't much wind. One of the major climbs of the day was up Circle R. My riding buddy Mike Kassow rode that climb quit a bit a couple of years ago. I can tell my fitness has improved by the pace I was able to keep to the top. It's really nice to have evidence that the hard work is paying off. After refilling water bottles at the 2nd SAG, I felt my front tire getting "squishy" on a climb so I stopped to swap out my tube. Adam and Don who were riding right behind me stopped and helped me out as we watched the rest of the group ride over the hills. We were able to get the flat fixed in pretty short order, but our group was long gone. The three of us were pretty well spent so chasing down the group was not going to happen so we "noodled" back. Evidently Adam and Don's definition of noodling is different from mine so we were still moving along at a pretty good clip; just not hammering. The ride back along the coast was great. It's always nice to feel the ocean breezes after riding hard in the inland foothills.

I attended a CAF mixer at B&L Bikes in Solona Beach on Wednesday. We heard from Chris Chandler who had multiple deployments in Afghanistan. His second resulted in his losing a leg in an IED explosion. He still went back and deployed 3 more times as an amputee and completed jump school and got this "jump wings". Chris has been racing triathlons since 2008 as part of Operation Rebound, inspiring other troops to remain active and overcome perceived barriers by taking part in sports. Challenged Athletes Foundation fund raising makes this possible.

This week, the Scott and BR Cycling Challenge will cut to 8. Regardless of what happens, this has been a fantastic experience. It's been great riding with great people who are very committed to the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

Sunday August 16, 2009 Training Ride

Today was an early start as the Scott & BR Cycling Challenge contestants had an immunity challenge. We had to count the calories in a bunch of Accelerade energy gel packs stuffed into a jar. I was way, way off. I totally over estimated the number of gel packs. If I'm not mistaken, Pat Thomas won with a number of around 8,100. 2 riders get cut in the contest this week. Fingers crossed. The ride from Del Mar to Ramona itself was great. I rode with group 3 today. It's a little more social than group 2 and I wanted to chat more with Mike Henderson and some of the other contestants which was nice. Adam and Joe rode up with group 2. The climb up Scripps Poway Parkway was nice. I found a good rhythm and felt good. The QMDC SAG stop was great as usual, complete with fruit-kabobs. Refreshing. The ride to Ramona was fine, except all the traffic on Hwy 67. I took a wrong turn in Ramona, and had to sprint to catch my group after stopping to talk to the Group 2 guys at a stop light. The ride back on Highland Valley Road was great, except I flatted right before the descent to the valley. Mike Henderson stopped and I got the flat fixed pretty quickly. Then, on the descent, I flatted again. I exhausted my Co2 cartridages and was stuck. A non-QMDC rider stopped to help and he had a pump. Our ride leader Mike noticed I was missing and rode up Highland Valley (no small feat at a 9% grade) and helped. He gave me a pointer that was new to me about checking for a pinch after putting a new tube in the tire. That is, looking for the wheel tape to make sure the tube hasn't snuck out between the tire and the rim. I always looked for the tube, but this is much easier. Thanks Mike. The ride through Rancho Bernardo, Penesquitos and through Del Mar Heights was a lot of fun. Those are roads I'm very familiar with since I use them on my training rides. I stopped at Scripps Green Hospital to see a friend who's sick, then stopped at Subway for a foot-long sandwich. I was starved! The sun really wiped me out, I guess. I got a little sunburned swimming at the Cove yesterday, and adding the sun today just wilted me. I Should sleep well tonight!

Sunday August 9, 2009 Training Ride

I'm luck enough to have made the cut to 10 in the Scott & BR Cycling Challenge. Today was the Pine Valley training ride and I had a day of the drops. My buddy Ross Craft joined the ride as my guest. I've known Ross for about 6 years now. We've ridden a lot together and I always refer to him as "Il Falco", a reference to his fearless descents. We ended up riding with what I think was Group 1, although I intended to ride with Group 2. After the descent on Old Hwy 80 we started the climb back up to Mount Laguna on Kitchen Creek Road. While never terribly steep, it is a relentless climb that just seems to be never ending. Ross and I rode together and chatted and we finally got to the tree line which was nice. After a welcomed SAG stop, we continued climbing up to Mount Laguna on Sunrise Hwy. The pace quickened on the descents and I couldn't keep up with the accelerations and got dropped by the group. I finally caught Ross's group who had stopped because a couple of non-QMDC riders had crashed and as it turned out right in front of Ross who was able to avoid it. We rode with Track Coach Lisa's group to a store by Lake Cuyamaca where we regrouped. I dropped off the back during the descent down Hwy 79 to Hwy 80. Let me say, it's never a fun experience to get dropped. First my ego hurt then I started feeling vulnerable riding Hwy 79 solo. Ross was nice enough to stop before Pine Valley and I joined him for the return. We then met Scott Kaplan, "Antartic" Mike and some other QMDC riders at Frosty Burgers for some shakes which was a nice ending to the day. We've all (or at least most of us) been dropped on a ride at some point in time. It's humbling, but if you don't get too down, you can appreciate the beauty of the landscape and enjoy doing what you love... riding your bike.

As an aside, upon returning to San Diego, I took my bike over to Moment Cycle Sport for a tune-up as I was having problems with a derailleur that was being less than cooperative. Moment's a great bike shop and have a knowledgeable and energetic staff. If you need cycling or triathlon gear, or a new bike, I highly recommend them.

Sunday August 2, 2009 Workout at Fitness Quest 10

Today was another chance at immunity by means of a 10 question pop quiz before a great workout at Fitness Quest 10 put on by Pat Jack. The quiz was comprised of 5 questions about the Scott & BR show and 5 questions about the Challenged Athletes Foundation. I thought I knew my stuff until I got tested on it. The test was well crafted but if I was being scored, I probably did about a 60%. Sad, sad. The immunity pump that was decorated in lots of bling, courtesy of Joy, went to Brian, so he'll rest easy Tuesday morning while the rest of us sweat out the cut down to 10.

As for the workout, it was great. Pat gave a great talk on why spending some time in the gym doing the right kind of active workout is so important to improving our cycling. After that, we went outside and did a bunch of strength and agility drills. It reminded me the first practices of the season in high school football. It was fun and challenging. We finished off, by doing some stretching which I am sorely in need of.

I had proposed a ride when the details of today's workout was announced by Mike Hunter. Our workout went longer than I had anticipated and I had a ride scheduled with my nephew in the afternoon, so I bowed out of the ride with the Scott & BR contestants. My ride with my nephew was great although Mission Bay was really crowded, and he got ran over by an overly zealous (to say the least) soccer player. Matt was fine although a little shaken up. I managed to hold my temper at the offending... well, let's just leave it at that.

I'm a little concerned about Tuesday as my fund raising efforts have been less than successful. Either way it goes, it has been a privilege to be able to participate. I'll let you know my fate as we cut down to 10.